בס”ד Rebbi (Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi) said, “which is the path that a person should select for himself? Anything that is tiferet for the one who does it, and tiferet for him from others” (Avot 2:1) All of the days that the blemish is upon him he shall be in a… Read More »Parshat Tazria-Metzora: Walking the Middle Path
Lag BaOmer 5784 – May 26 in 2024 Lag BaOmer – the 18the of Iyar – is the day commemorating, among other things, the end of a plague that prevailed among Rabbi Akiva’s students. Originally, Rabbi Akiva was a shepherd. One day he saw how water was able to break… Read More »Lag BaOmer – Respect each other
A THOUGHT ABOUT PARSHAT KEDOSHIM Leviticus: 19:1-20:27 23 april till 29 april 2023 אַל־תִּפְנוּ֙ אֶל־הָ֣אֱלִילִ֔ם וֵֽאלֹהֵי֙ מַסֵּכָ֔ה לֹ֥א תַעֲשׂ֖וּ לָכֶ֑ם אֲנִ֖י יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם׃ 4 Turn ye not unto the idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I am the L-RD your G-d. Leviticus 19:4 One of the 7 Noahidic Commandments is… Read More »CAN I KEEP MY BIBLE?
Kedoshim (Leviticus 19-20 ) Vayikra, 18:5: “And you will guard My statutes and laws, that you will do them and you will live by them, I am HaShem.” Rashi, 18:5, Dh: And you will live by them: “In the next World, because if you will say [it refers to] this world, his end… Read More »Parshat Kedoshim – The Value of Life
וַיִּזְכֹּ֤ר אֱלֹהִים֙ אֶת־נֹ֔חַ וְאֵ֤ת כׇּל־הַֽחַיָּה֙ וְאֶת־כׇּל־הַבְּהֵמָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר אִתּ֖וֹ בַּתֵּבָ֑ה וַיַּעֲבֵ֨ר אֱלֹהִ֥ים ר֙וּחַ֙ עַל־הָאָ֔רֶץ וַיָּשֹׁ֖כּוּ הַמָּֽיִם׃ “And E’lokim remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark, and G-d caused a spirit to pass over the earth, and the waters descended.” Why did… Read More »Genesis 8:1 – Ark and Word
28 Nissan 5783 – 19 april 2023 “If a woman will conceive and give birth to a boy…” This chapter begins by discussing various laws pertaining to the birth of human beings. The previous Torah portion concluded with laws about animals. Rashi, in his commentary to this verse, says that… Read More »Leviticus 12:2 – Two Pockets in Life
27 Nissan 5783 – 18 april 2023 “Whatever crawls on its belly…” (Leviticus 11:42). The word for stomach/belly is gachon. The letter vav in this word is always written enlarged in a Torah scroll. It happens to be the middle letter in the entire Torah, the center point. (Second line,… Read More »Leviticus 11:42 – What can we learn from the “belly”?
Previously, we said that we know that we have a rabbinic tradition regarding the Sheva Mitzvot—and that we have faith that the rabbinic tradition traces itself back to Moses, as the revelation of the Oral Law alongside the Written Law. The question was, is there a Biblical source for the… Read More »INTRODUCTION TO THE SHEVA MITZVOT BNEO NOACH, PART TWO
בס”ד This week’s parsha begins, “and it was, on the eighth day…” (Leviticus 9:1). It was the first day of the operation of the Mishkan (Tabernacle), on the first day of Nissan, after a period of seven days during which the kohanim (priests) were trained in the Divine Service (Rashi,… Read More »Parshat Shemini – When Seven Becomes Eight
Shmini (Leviticus 9-11 ) The Torah Portion begins with the joyful celebrations of the Inauguration of the Mishkan (tabernacle), however this joyous occasion becomes a time of mourning with the sudden deaths of Aaron’s two oldest sons, Nadav and Avihu. “The sons of Aharon, Nadav and Avihu, each took his fire pan,… Read More »Parshat Shmini – Acquiring a Friend
